The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, Dr. Aminah Zawedde officially opened the inaugural Uganda Developers Summit (UG Dev Summit), a landmark event that aims to revolutionize Uganda’s developer landscape, accelerate the adoption of IT, and open up global work opportunities for local tech talent.
Organized by Refactory Academy, a software skilling academy, and its partners, the UG Dev Summit kicked off today at the National ICT Innovation Hub in Nakawa, gathering over 500 attendees including speakers from all over the world, exhibitors, developers, the media, and tech enthusiasts. The summit will end tomorrow, July 18th —and simultaneously the dates for the second annual edition (UG Dev Summit 2025) are expected to be announced.
In her keynote speech, Dr. Zawedde urged Michael Niyitegeka, Executive Director of Refactory Limited, and his team to make the summit a regional event. “Today is the beginning, we are going to grow bigger, stronger, and more impactful,” she said. “Maybe Michael should think of having the next summit in another region of Uganda because we don’t want to leave anybody behind and we don’t want to leave any region behind.”
Dr. Zawedde also noted that the Ministry is honored to be part of the Uganda Developer Summit because it speaks directly to the National Digital Transformation Roadmap, an initiative driving the nation’s digital technological progress and economic growth.
The Permanent Sectary also spoke about the ICT Ministry embarking on an innovation frenzy to establish regional ICT innovation hubs in Soroti, Kabale, and Arua —and more to be opened, providing nurturing grounds for developers, innovators, and tech enthusiasts. The goal is to build IT capacity, position Uganda as a champion for entrepreneurship, strengthen digital technological progress and accelerate national economic growth.
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Dr. Zawedde also briefly touched on the Ministry’s partnership with the Refactory Academy. In 2022, the Ministry signed an MoU with Refactory Academy, and during the signing, the Permanent Secretary told the academy she wanted to see what the output of the MoU. “Today, the Uganda Developers Summit is one of the outputs, not the first output —we have celebrated several graduates and we are happy to learn that the trained individuals are employed,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary noted that when they sign an MoU, their area of collaboration is largely supporting the development of the country’s digital ecosystem.
Dr. Zawedde spoke about other topics including, cybersecurity & awareness, emerging technologies, and employment opportunities, among others.
Takeaways
In an insightful panel session that included panelists, Dr. Shamim Nabuuma; co-founder of Chil FemTech, Timothy Musoke; co-founder and CEO of Laboremus Uganda, Dr. Lawrence Muganga; Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, and Sylvia Nakanwagi; Centenary Technology Services —moderated by Arthur Mukembo discussed Uganda’s developer landscape and the strategic opportunities and steps towards leveraging human capital development to lead Africa in the digital economy.
The United Nations projects that by 2050 Africa’s population will reach nearly 2.5 billion, making up 25% of the world’s population. This demographic advantage can serve as a foundation for developing a robust, digitally-driven human capital base for the digital economy.
The session focused on digital innovation and technology, exploring various strategies for Uganda’s software developers to position themselves for global opportunities. These strategies include leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), establishing a strong digital presence, acquiring key digital competencies, and continuously upgrading skills to remain competitive in the global market.
Dr. Muganga emphasized the urgent need for the government to invest in the educational systems by revamping the curriculum to fully integrate digital learning, coding, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects from an early age. “At Victoria University, we continue to use digital learning to prepare our students for the future and to align with the needs of the industry,” he said —adding “These initiatives have ensured that our graduates are not only knowledgeable but also job-ready.”
Musoke in his remarks emphasized that Uganda continues to lag behind in tech talent and must invest in the sector to catch up with the rest of the world. He urged developers to focus on solving Uganda’s immediate issues such as unemployment, social instability, and disease while staying informed about global tech trends to ensure their solutions are relevant and impactful.
Dr. Nabuuma touched on emerging tech, AI which she said is here to stay as it enhances efficiency without replacing jobs. She highlighted to developers and entrepreneurs that revolutionary technology presents significant opportunities, but it’s essential to reinvent oneself by acquiring skills that complement rather than compete with AI.
Nakanwagi on her part highlighted the importance of assessing ecosystem readiness, including the utilization of tech products and available resources to support it. She also stressed the significance of collaboration across the ecosystem to enhance technological adoption and innovation.
In another insightful panel session that included panelists; Isaac Odongo; Deputy CEO of Tek Juice, Davis Agaba; CEO & Co-founder of Emata Uganda, Mark Tusiime; Programs Lead at Zimba Women, and Kenneth Agina; Andanian Labs —moderated by Maureen Agena discussed Africa’s readiness for emerging technologies as well as talent and ecosystem readiness.
On talent readiness, Tusiime applauded women noting that they are the highest knowledge seekers and willing to learn and learn from the various trainings. He said they’ve been able to train over 1,000 women, out of these 100 have received funding and 265 of them have expressed interest in furthering their skills in tech. He also said with the learning comes hinders, one being social-cultural norms. “Gender dynamics are a major obstacle. Men don’t want to learn together with the women and they chase them out, and some are resisting their wives from, joining training programs for fear of being outmatched as a leader of the home,” said Tusiime.
Agaba acknowledged that Uganda has the resources including human resources and the Internet to aid the ability to learn. “The Internet is a powerful resource tool today for learning,” he said. Agaba also noted that it is great to embrace emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). “At Emata we understood early that we couldn’t use software outside Uganda to establish farmers’ credit scores. So we put together an AI team.”
Agina from his remarks said, “We are at a point where we are building tech tools that are relevant to us.”
Day 1 concluded with a fireside chat with Solomon Opio, Preze Masinde, Phillip Gasatura of Katapuli VC, and Arnold Kwizera of Norsemen East Africa discussed Investment in the Tech & Developer Ecosystem.
Day 2 will have keynote addresses on; (1) A Cloud-powered Africa; The Opportunity, and (2) A Progressive Policy Environment for Uganda’s Digitization Agenda. Panel discussions will include (1) Cloud Technology; Powering Africa’s Cloud-driven Future, and (2) Tech governance & Policy regulation; Lessons from the Past Decade & What Next.
The summit will end with an Emerging Tech Showcase/Demos, UG Diaspora Fireside Chat, and a Networking & Cocktail session which will have the launch of Tekjuice in Uganda.
